Pay Attention! It’s Distracted Driving Awareness Month

Do you ever drive blindfolded? Probably not. Do you ever drive and use your cell phone? Probably yes. Guess what? There’s little difference between the two.

April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month, and with good reason. Distracted driving is a national epidemic. And sadly, a large majority of drivers – from teens to older adults – drive distracted every day, every time they drive.

What Is the Distraction?

Distracted driving is defined as any activity that takes your attention away from the road. Basically, there are three types of distractions:

Visual – Taking your eyes off the road

Manual – Taking your hands off the wheel

Cognitive – Taking your mind off driving

Distracted driving encompasses many activities, including:

Texting or talking on your cell, talking to passengers

Eating or drinking

Adjusting your music

Grooming yourself

Using a navigation system, including physical maps

Riding with a pet on your lap, or unsecured in the car

You look at your front seat passenger while talking. You give a scolding to the kids in the back seat via the rearview mirror. You hunt for a napkin in the fast-food bag to wipe up the soda spill. You’re in a bad mood and thinking about what got you there. You just need to send one quick text. Really, it will only take a second.

Texting and driving top the chart for dangerous behaviors. But drivers aren’t just texting, they’re also posting to social media, taking “selfies,” and surfing the web while driving. Though an average of 94% of Americans say they know a driver shouldn’t text and drive, these sobering U.S. stats* show a different reality:

An average of 9 people are killed and 1,153 injured every day in vehicle accidents involving distracted drivers.

5 seconds is the average time your eyes are off the road while texting and traveling at 55mph — that’s enough time to cover the length of a football field blindfolded

In 2014, 3,179 people were killed and 431,000 were injured in vehicle accidents involving distracted drivers.

Each day, approximately 660,000 drivers are using cell phones or electronic devices while driving.

Texting while driving is the equivalent of having four beers and makes you six times more likely to have an accident than driving while intoxicated.

Adults admit to sending or receiving text messages 27% of the time they’re behind the wheel.

About 55% of teens say it’s easy for them to text while driving.

A distracted driver spends about 10% out of the lane of travel.

(*U.S. government studies, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and Health Research Funding)

What Can Be Done to Stop the Trend?

Despite laws in 14 states that ban hand-held cell phone use, and in 46 states that ban texting while driving, drivers continue to put themselves, their passengers, and other motorists and pedestrians in danger by driving distracted. There’s only one way to stop distracted driving: pay attention.

Change your driving behavior:

Keep your cell phone out of reach while driving, and make the promise to not use it until you’re off the road.

Don’t eat or drink while driving. If you do, be sure to pull off the road to clean up any food or beverage spills.